Forty Years Among the Stacks
For nearly forty years I have been acquiring music — records, cassettes, CDs — from shops both grand and humble, storied and long since vanished. This field guide is my attempt at charting those territories: the shops I still haunt each season, the legendary establishments that have since closed their doors, and the online emporia that sustain the hunt.
Part directory, part diary, altogether a labour of crate-digging devotion.
"The holy grail of soul, jazz, funk, and Latin. I have extracted some of the finest discoveries of my collecting life from these very bins. An essential stop on any Chicago expedition."
| No. | Album & Artist | Format | Acquired From | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Kind of Blue — Miles Davis | LP | Dusty Groove, Chicago | 2023 |
| II | Remain in Light — Talking Heads | LP | Stardust, Baltimore | 2024 |
| III | Sandinista! — The Clash | 3×LP | Cheapo Records, Cambridge | 2022 |
| IV | Bitches Brew — Miles Davis | 2×LP | Princeton Record Exchange | 2023 |
| V | My Favorite Things — John Coltrane | LP | Normal's Books, Baltimore | 2024 |
I am Phil Plencner. I have been acquiring music since the 1980s — records, cassettes, CDs — from shops large and small, across forty years and more cities than I can rightly account for. This field guide represents one collector's attempt to chart those territories: the stores he loves, the establishments he mourns, and the records he found along the way.
You may know me from Phil's Phriday Picks, Phil's Daily Needle Drop, or from behind the decks as DJ AudioPhil — most often found downstairs from Stardust Records at Brewer's Cask, Baltimore.